"Inspired in equal measures, by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, "Morris Lessmore" is a story of people who devote their lives to books and books who return the favor. The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is a poignant, humorous allegory about the curative powers of story. Using a variety of techniques (miniatures, computer animation, 2D animation), award-winning author/illustrator William Joyce and Co-director Brandon Oldenburg present a hybrid style of animation that harkens back to silent films and M-G-M Technicolor musicals. "Morris Lessmore" is old-fashioned and cutting edge at the same time."

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Just a reminder to any year 3 students who might be planning to come in for a tutorial with me on Monday 27th Feb. It's week 5, which is crit week for year one, so my days move around, meaning I won't be in the office on Monday. Get your blogs up-to-date, and if you want to discuss anything in particular, use your blog to attract my attention '@ Phil'. Spread the word and let's save you lot some wasted bus fares etc.... :)

A Unit 4 checklist of what you need to complete and submit for Friday's Final Crit 02/03/2012

60% Component - Creative Project

In
response to the three story components given to you at the time of briefing,
you are asked to pre-produce an
original one minute animation.

Your preproduction is to be submitted in 2 parts;

1) Pre-Viz, to include:

a) 2d animatic with soundtrack &
transitions.

b) Maya pre-viz with soundtrack & transitions.

2) An ‘Art Of’ publication, to include:

a) concept art : environment design

b) concept art : character design

c) concept art : prop design

d) Final environment designs

e) Final prop designs

f) Final
character designs (character sheets)

g) Final presentation storyboards

h) Final script

40% Component - Research & Development

1,500 word written assignment that analyses critically one film in terms
of the relationship between story and structure; you should consider camera
movement, editing, and order of scenes.

You are asked to produce a comprehensive
blog archiving and annotating your creative development during the duration of
the unit. You should use the blog to reflect critically upon your own creative
practice and the wider cultural and thematic context of the unit.

Important!
Your blog must include:

1)Your
final CG Pre-Viz.

2)Your
final Animatic.

3)Your
‘Art Of’ publication (as Scribd Presentation)

4)Final
Storyboards.

5)Final
script.

6)Draft
scripts/story development– to
include:

a) The Development

b) The Treatment

c) The Step Outline

d) The Premise

e) The Logline

f) Character Biographies

7)Preparatory
Storyboards.

8) Final
concept art for character/environment/props.

9)Supporting
artwork for character/environment/props.

10)Supporting
research for character/environment/props.

11)Influence
maps for character/environment/props.

12) Supporting
research for your written assignment.

13)Your
film reviews for the ‘Alfred Hitchcock Presents’ Film series. Please note – in
addition to and support of your own critique, your reviews must include a
minimum of 3 quotations from 3 different published reviews+ poster art + supporting stills.Please note - Harvard Method must be
used for all quotations and all illustrations to be referenced correctly.Reviews are to include
bibliography and illustration list.

What follows are instructions for your crit presentations and reminders of what you need to present and submit. Please use your network of creative partners to ensure that everyone has seen this information and understood it.

Okay - you will present on crit day from your blog. Please prepare a single 'crit day' post that contains your Art Of publication and your embedded Animatic/Pre-viz videos. In terms of your resulting presentation, the order of work should be as follows:

Your Art Of publication (as Scribd presentation).

Your animatic.

Your CG Pre-viz.

While you will present at the crit from your blog, you must also submit a submission disc to me, which must include:

Your Art Of publication (as pdf).

Your animatic video file.

Your CG Pre-vis video file.

Written Assignment.

PDF archive of blog. For instructions on how to export your blog as pdf. go here.

You must also submit a paper-copy of your written assignment with a signed plagiarism form (including your Turnitin ID number*). Your paper-copy should be bound, with numbered pages. Please do not leave the printing of your assignment until the last minute!

Remember - your brief clearly asks you to consider your 'submission disc artwork' - and a printing template is available on myUCA/Storytelling/Unit Materials.

Important: please note, your Storytelling crit starts at 10am sharp - at which point the doors will close. Latecomers will be disallowed entry after the crit has started, but are expected to join the crit at a convenient interval. The grades of latecomers will be capped at the minimum pass mark - irrespective of content.** Latecomers will join the 'back of the queue' in terms of crit presentations and will present their work at the end of the day in order of their arrival. Students who have been in attendance since 10am or before will be given the opportunity to leave the crit at this time.

If circumstances beyond your control*** prevent you from attending on time, you must contact Jackie Andrew before 10am, and your situation will be reviewed. Doors will open at 9am. Students should seek to arrive in advance of the start time to ensure they are prepared. Your project management and professionalism counts. Please prepare for your crit as you would for an interview or pitch. For some 'Rough Guide' style advice re. the stuff of engaging crit presentations, please go here.

Please note: non-attendance at final crit = non-submission.

And finally....

* For information on using Turnitin go here (you'll find the Turnitin upload at myUCA/Storytelling/Unit Assessment)

** Obviously, if the work doesn't satisfy the minium requirements as stipulated by the brief, the work would be failed.

***But not issues in regard to last-minute technical problems (including printing of essays and writing of discs etc.) that reflect poor project management. No student should be printing/writing discs/rendering etc. on the morning of crit day. Thursday is your deadline, not Friday.

"PINA is a feature-length dance film in 3D with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, featuring the unique and inspiring art of the great German choreographer Pina Bausch, who died in the summer of 2009. PINA is directed by Wim Wenders (Buena Vista Social Club, Wings of Desire), who was a long-standing friend of Pina's.Wenders takes the audience on a sensual, visually stunning journey of discovery into a new dimension: straight onto the stage with the legendary ensemble and follows the dancers out of the theatre into the city and the surrounding areas of Wuppertal - the place, which for 35 years was the home of Pina Bausch. PINA reinvigorates the way 3D film technology can be used."

While I was making my scene in maya, I imported the generic character to size things up. I tried then also to get used to moving it and how to move it and I have come across a problem. I am able to move it, legs, head and body but I cannot move its arms for some reason? Dues anyone know why this is and how to deal with it as I really want to start pre-vizing today but I want be able to unless I can move his arms.

Saturday, February 25, 2012

I was using the UV Texture editor and when I moved it and pressed 6 to get the textures to show on the model the UV texture editor just disappeared and now I cant get it back. I have exit Maya and even rebooted my computer, but I cant get the UV texture editor window to pop up. How do I get it back?

Just saw this over on Flooby Nooby - the animation itself is like Final Destination meets Monster House meets the Garbage Pail Kids. Created by Jeremy Macedo, a graduate from the Gobelins school, 'The Killer Waterslide' feels like the sort of idea that might have derived from random story components drawn from 3 brown envelopes. Take a look at the great character sheets too for inspiration.

There are so many fresh and exciting developments in the CG bloggosphere this week, I am once again struggling to stay ahead of the curve! This, of course, is good news - great news - because it means the motor is running hot and you're all up-and-at-it and the CGAA community is a-buzz with the speculative delights and successive refinements of pre-production. As a result, this maybe the single longest PWTM yet, so get your scroll bar at the ready - you're going to need it! So, in no particular order...

Rich V-C is developing this character who'll be taking centre-stage in his made-in-Maya illustration, progressing quickly from provisional sketches to more resolved turnarounds...

Jolanta's 'Queen of the Baltic Pixies' is a complex and contradictory creation; regal and childish, friend and foe, she combines bird, insect and diva in her imperious countenance. Be sure to watch JJ's latest animatic featuring professional voice artist, Jenny Dunbar. The first time I heard Jenny's talk track, the hairs on my neck stood all the way up.

CGAA Year 2 are 4 weeks into their Transcription unit, and the range and scope of creative methodologies and sorts of projects excites and satisfies. Mollyis seeking to create the lair of the Sea Witch from Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Sea Maid - and has been using a number of creative techniques by which to imagineer the environment, including filming ink swirls in water and then taking the resulting imagery into Photoshop...

Dom is designing Beowulf's nemesis, Grendel, a creature whose appearance is disputed by scholars, which gives Dom free reign to explore a number of exciting approaches to visualising the beast...

Alex P is transcribing her music choice into a synesthesiac animation, working with Kandinsky-inspired interpretative drawings to create an abstract audio-visual 'happening'...

... andAdamis searching for his perfect 'Jack Frost' - by combining shapes extracted from original photography of trees, branches and roots - some of these silhouettes dance and leap off the page - and the best of them crackle with a certain impishness and mischief.

Andi's transcription of one little girl's highly imaginative answer to the question 'What do aliens look like?' is progressing with admirable speed and efficiency. Check out the animatic - it has bags of innate charm and I defy you not to be smiling by the end of it.

CGAA Year 1 are a week away from crit day for Unit 4 Storytelling. Years 2 and 3 will no doubt remember the creative challenge of writing your first script for a one minute animated short and then pre-producing it, complete with character sheets, storyboards and cg pre-vis. Year 1 are working their socks off to ready their story ideas for the deadline, and I've included a small selection of their recent output below - to encourage, cajole, enthuse and inspire! (Keep at it, you lot!).

Oh - and a little something extra: Nat, who is 'out of sight, but not out of mind' has been beavering away on a self-initiated self-portrait, the progress of which Nat has been sharing via her blog. Personally, I think some deely boppers and a false moustache would lend additional gravitas to this image... :)

Not content with retro-fitting mushrooms to thrilling effect, CGAA graduate and masters student, Tom Beg is at it again - and this time he's mapping real world objects and transforming their mundane surfaces into screens for the play and shimmer of his projections. I suspect these latest experiments of Tom's are just the tip of an iceberg, so watch this space!

The Last Word.

"Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but does not make any progress." Alfred A. Montapert